This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Fixtures are commonly used for securing a workpiece prior to a machining operation, such as grinding, milling, boring, or the like. For example, gripping arms on the fixture may secure the workpiece while a cutting tool, such as a blade or bit removes material from the workpiece. In these types of operations, it is very important to precisely locate and secure the workpiece relative to the fixture, so that the location of the workpiece relative to the machine tool is accurately controlled. Known fixtures may include an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the position or location of the fixture, including the gripping arms, to ensure the accuracy of the machining operations relative to the workpiece. Such adjustment mechanisms may require a guess-and-check form of operation, where the user must adjust the position of the fixture or gripping arms, and then measure the position of the fixture or gripping arms to ensure that the new position will allow for an accurate machining operation. Often the user must perform more than one or several iterations of this guess-and-check adjustment process to achieve a desired positioning. This can be time-consuming and costly.
While known fixtures and adjustment mechanisms have proven to be acceptable for their intended purposes, a continuous need for improvement in the relevant arts remains.